Lord Bishop of Exeter

The fungus responsible for ash dieback disease can spread up to 75km via air borne spores. It is not possible to limit the spread of the disease at a national level, and it is now present in all counties, moving across the country at the expected rate from modelling by Cambridge University. There are an estimated 125 million ash trees in UK woodlands and up to 60 million ash trees outside of woodlands. From observations in Europe and the UK, we expect 1-5% of these trees to be naturally resistant to the disease.

The disease progresses quickly in young trees, trees growing in stressed conditions and ash dominated woodlands with higher levels of leaf litter and spore loads. Removal of leaf litter may be an effective way to limit the spread in certain conditions, for example around high value trees in urban environments.

The Government has published guidance for landowners on managing diseased ash, including a toolkit for Local Authorities, which has been downloaded nearly 20,000 times. Through the Local Authority Treescapes Fund, Defra funds treescape restoration with alternative species. Since 2021, over £15 million has been awarded through this fund. Countryside Stewardship tree health woodland grants also provide funds for private landowners to restock after felling due to ash dieback, and we are piloting grants that provide financial support for ecological surveys and road closures.

The Government has invested more than £8 million into ash dieback research, including the world’s largest screening trials for resistant trees. 1000 genotypes drawn from a wide geographic spread and genetic diversity are being tested for resistance to facilitate the possibility of a future breeding programme of resilient ash.

Defra has previously published statistics for the amounts of land changing use during individual years from 2013 to 14 through to 2017 to 2018. The Department intends to provisionally publish similar figures for the three year period 2019 to 2022 using a revised methodology during June or July 2023, however, the figures are not detailed enough to provide the information requested.

The Government has made an assessment of the UK’s food security as a whole. In the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. It considers the UK's food supply sources overall, noting that domestic production and diversity of supply are both important to our food security. In general, we produce 61% of all the food we need, and 74% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.

With regards to solar farms specifically, protecting our environment, backing British farmers and delivering long-term energy security with more renewables is at the heart of HM Government’s manifesto. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out clearly that local planning authorities should consider all the benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land, when making plans or taking decisions on new development proposals. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, planning authorities should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality. Solar and farming can be complementary, supporting each other financially, environmentally and through shared use of land. We consider that meeting energy security and climate change goals is urgent and of critical importance to the country, and that these goals can be achieved together with maintaining food security for the UK. We encourage deployment of solar technology that delivers environmental benefits, with consideration for ongoing food production or environmental improvement.

Forestry is a devolved matter and so unless otherwise stated this answer relates to England only. Our analysis has shown there are over three million hectares of low-risk land available for woodland creation. This analysis has identified areas of low sensitivity for woodland creation – areas which have few or no known constraints for new woodlands, excluding protected landscapes and priority habitats, amongst other sensitivities. This analysis includes grade 4 agricultural land but does not separate it from other sensitivities as woodland creation needs to be considered in its context. We are providing new and innovative incentives like the England Woodland Creation Offer to help land managers make woodlands part of their business where this is appropriate.

Agriculture remains the largest land use in the UK, with an estimated 77% of the total area of the UK used for agricultural purposes, and therefore has substantial potential to contribute to the UK’s tree planting goals, by converting marginal or unproductive land into new woodland without taking good agricultural land out of use.

Defra has previously published statistics for the amounts of land changing use during individual years from 2013 to 14 through to 2017 to 2018. The Department intends to provisionally publish similar figures for the three year period 2019 to 2022 using a revised methodology during June or July 2023, however, the figures are not detailed enough to provide the information requested.

The Government has made an assessment of the UK’s food security as a whole. In the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. It considers the UK's food supply sources overall, noting that domestic production and diversity of supply are both important to our food security. In general, we produce 61% of all the food we need, and 74% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.

With regards to solar farms specifically, protecting our environment, backing British farmers and delivering long-term energy security with more renewables is at the heart of HM Government’s manifesto. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out clearly that local planning authorities should consider all the benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land, when making plans or taking decisions on new development proposals. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, planning authorities should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality. Solar and farming can be complementary, supporting each other financially, environmentally and through shared use of land. We consider that meeting energy security and climate change goals is urgent and of critical importance to the country, and that these goals can be achieved together with maintaining food security for the UK. We encourage deployment of solar technology that delivers environmental benefits, with consideration for ongoing food production or environmental improvement.

The Government does not instruct farmers to ‘set aside’ land for rewilding. We are phasing out subsidies so that we can invest the money in policies that work for farm businesses, food production and the environment. We are co-designing our reforms with farmers and, as we said in the Agricultural Transition Plan, the intention of our environmental land management schemes is to be flexible and to provide more choice and control to farmers.

The government is supporting a number of initiatives to create wilder landscapes across England, as part of a broader approach to nature recovery. However, rewilding is not appropriate in all situations, and we must balance priorities including food production.

Agriculture remains the largest land use in the UK, with an estimated 77% of the total area of the UK used for agricultural purposes, and therefore has substantial potential to contribute to the UK’s tree planting goals, by converting marginal or unproductive land into new woodland without taking good agricultural land out of use.

In the Government Food Strategy we committed to publish a Land Use Framework for England in 2023, which will help to inform how we manage trade-offs and tensions on the land. The Framework will support the delivery of resilient, multifunctional landscapes, which will be dependent on the local context and needs.

In the Net Zero Growth Plan, we have committed to developing a harmonised approach to measuring carbon on farms and will set out how we will support farmers to undertake carbon audits by 2024.

The Government has been clear that any access to UK markets agreed through trade agreements will be fair and reciprocal, taking into account sectoral sensitivities and differences in food production standards. For example, within the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement we secured the exclusion of pork, chicken and eggs from tariff liberalisation reflecting the importance of animal welfare to the UK and the level of trade between Australia and the UK on these products.

In both our negotiations with Australia and with New Zealand, we carefully considered the potential impacts on British farmers and secured a range of different measures to protect them. These measures include tariff rate quotas for several sensitive agricultural products, product specific safeguards and a general bilateral safeguard mechanism providing a temporary safety net for all products.

The Government has published full impact assessments for the UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement’s, which include impacts on the agricultural sector.

We remain committed to upholding the UK’s high environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards through trade. The independent Trade & Agriculture Commission concluded that our agreements with Australia and New Zealand do not undermine the UK’s robust domestic protections. Neither agreement creates any new permissions or authorisations for imports from Australia or New Zealand. All products imported into the UK will, as they do now, have to comply with our import requirements.

Volume of Trade: UNITS= Thousand Tonnes

Value of Trade: UNITS = £ Million

Value of Ornamental Horticulture Exports: UNITS £ Million

The Department has not made an assessment of the impact of litter on wildlife.

We are aware of the general adverse impact litter can have on wildlife and we are tackling this through our Litter Strategy for England. The strategy sets out our aim to deliver a substantial reduction in litter and littering within a generation by focusing on education and awareness, improving enforcement and better cleaning and access to bins.

There is a systematic, proactive screening of potential new and emerging plant health risks. This includes consideration of changes which have the potential to affect the risk posed by non-native plant pests and pathogens to UK plants, both cultivated and in the wider environment. Pests and pathogens which are considered to pose a risk are prioritised for action in the UK Plant Health Risk Register. Risks are reviewed monthly by an expert group and Ministers, and prioritised for actions such as contingency plans in the event of an outbreak, pest risk analyses which can look in detail at potential risks associated with climatic factors, surveillance, enhanced inspection, regulation, national measures, import controls, research and awareness raising.  Actions and decisions are kept under review and would be reconsidered in light of new information concerning the pest or other factor which would change the risk to GB.

Animal feed is one of a range of inputs that contribute to the price of meat and meat products. Input costs are dictated by the market and can fluctuate at different times of the year or in response to specific events, as we have seen over the last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. No single input cost, including on-farm feed costs, would be expected to dictate the price of a particular commodity.

We continue to closely monitor agricultural markets including animal feed prices including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was set up by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the UK market situation across all key agricultural commodities. We have also recently increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence.

An innovative, productive, and competitive agricultural sector is one of HM Government's key priorities.

Horticultural production was worth £4.8 billion in 2021 and is a vital sector, not only in ensuring the resilience of our food supply chains, but also as a major driver of local economic growth and employment.

Innovation, such as the development of new plant varieties and growing systems, has already allowed growers to extend the growing seasons of a variety of crops, for example strawberries.

So far, Defra has committed over £90 million through the £270 million Farming Innovation Programme for industry-led research and development in agriculture and horticulture in England. This investment is enabling more farmers, growers and agri-food businesses to become involved in agricultural R&D. This will maximise the impact of R&D investment in innovation and improve the take up of novel approaches on farms. To date, one third of live projects are focussed on horticulture.

The Farming Investment Fund is supporting the growth of fruit and vegetables by providing grants to growers (including related contractors) so they can invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure that will help their businesses to prosper. This includes robotic or autonomous equipment and systems that will support harvesting, weeding, spraying and plant spacing. In addition, the Water Management Grant supports more efficient use of water on farm helping to secure water supplies for crop irrigation by constructing on-farm reservoirs and adopting best practice irrigation application equipment. A second round of the Water Management Grant is planned for Spring 2023.

The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response and is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.

Defra is closely monitoring markets and supply chains to explore the factors that have contributed to ongoing supply chain pressures, including requesting weekly data from supermarkets on supplies of the foods affected to ensure we have the latest available data. We know that some supermarkets have applied item limits to a small number of fruit and vegetables due to poor weather affecting the harvest in Spain and North Africa, where a high proportion of produce consumed in UK at this time of year is grown.

Minister Spencer met with major retailers on 27 February to discuss the current supply issues, their procurement contracts with growers and how to work together to find solutions. Supermarkets are confident their supply chains will return to normal over the course of this month.

Defra’s approach to avian influenza disease control considers the latest scientific and ornithological evidence and veterinary advice and is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain, supported by the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales. Current policy reflects our experience of responding to past outbreaks of exotic animal disease and is in line with international standards of best practice for disease control. In summary swift and humane culling of poultry and other captive birds on infected premises, coupled with rigorous biosecurity, are used to prevent the amplification of avian influenza and minimise the risk of disease spread from infected premises

In addition, to help stop the spread of avian influenza, Avian Influenza Prevention Zones (AIPZs) are in force across the UK. Mandatory housing measures are also in force as an additional requirement of the AIPZs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For areas where an AIPZ is in force it is a legal requirement for all bird keepers (whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock) to follow strict biosecurity measures to limit the spread of and eradicate the disease, including where mandatory housing measures are a requirement of an AIPZ in force, to keep their birds housed. The enhanced AIPZ biosecurity measures, mandatory housing measures, in addition to a prohibition on poultry gatherings, have been vital in preventing spread and protecting flocks across the country from avian influenza.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Environment Agency (EA) have been working with the water industry to research the occurrence and transport of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics through wastewater treatment works as part of the industry-funded Chemical Investigations Programme. Investigations have been carried out at 10 sites across the country to understand how the different treatment processes affect the presence and prevalence of particular organisms and resistance genes. The results were published by UK Water Industry Research in February 2023. In addition, the EA has completed a study to look at the amounts of antifungal substances that remain in biosolids as one of the final products of these wastewater treatments. These results will also be published in early 2023.

The EA has also been working with water companies on chemicals investigations which have included a range of pharmaceuticals and veterinary medicines discharged from treated sewage effluent which might contribute to AMR. This work allows the EA to sift and screen any chemical substance nominated using, where available, hazard data and environmental monitoring data to prioritise whether a substance may be a possible chemical of concern in England. Many pharmaceuticals are included on this list. Monitoring also takes place for a wide range of pharmaceuticals within the water environment using a semi-quantitative screening methodology.

The Government is aware of the report and Environment Agency staff contributed to initial United Nations workshops that led to its commission. Now that the report has been published, we will assess the content and conclusions. Defra, the Environment Agency and UKHSA are currently working together to investigate antimicrobial resistance in the environment under the Treasury-funded Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and Environment (PATHSAFE) project. The Environment Agency is developing possible surveillance methods and data systems that could be used in the future to help us better understand and mitigate environmental antimicrobial resistance.

In 2019, the UK Government published a 20-year Vision of a world in which antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is effectively contained, controlled and mitigated by 2040. In support of the Vision, the Government also committed to developing a series of five-year national action plans that will each prioritise actions and direct resources based on the latest information about what the biggest risks are, and which interventions are most effective addressing them. The first of these plans, published in 2019, takes a comprehensive One-Health approach across humans, animals, agriculture the environment and food. The vision and national action plan were co-developed across government departments, agencies, the health family, the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and with input from a wide range of stakeholders.

The Government is committed to reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals and to strengthening animal health and welfare standards. We are delivering on this through the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway; NFU representatives have been part of the co-design team looking at how reducing the prevalence of endemic disease and encouraging more responsible use of antibiotics can contribute to slowing the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

Also, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which coordinates action across Defra under the UK AMR National Action Plan, works closely with the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA). The National Farmers' Union is an active member of RUMA. RUMA chairs the ‘Targets Task Force’ of vets and farmers which has been instrumental in achieving our national progress in reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals: antibiotic use in livestock has fallen by 55% since 2014, accompanied by a reducing trend in antimicrobial resistance.

We will always support British farming. We are introducing schemes and policies that enable farmers to have resilient businesses, produce the food our nation needs, enhance animal health and welfare and also to protect and enhance the natural environment.

For example, the Farming Innovation Programme will support the pull-through of R&D to deliver farmer-led solutions to productivity challenges. It will also address longer term strategic challenges such as producing nutritious food more efficiently and sustainably, whilst helping the sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to achieve Net Zero goals.

Going forward, farmers will be able to pick and choose from a range of grants and ongoing payments to find a package that works for them. We will work with all farm types, regardless of size, location, ownership or the systems they use, to ensure that that they are able to access our funding and support in a way that works for them.

The government recognises the importance of biopesticides in supporting sustainable pest management now and in the future. This is reflected in the growth of the market, with the number of biopesticide active substances approved for use in the UK increasing from 2 in 1997 to 44 in 2020.

Officials are engaging with biopesticides stakeholders in research and industry to better understand the barriers to biopesticide development and uptake in the UK. Feedback from these engagements will help inform future policy in this area.

The Government is committed to supporting farmers and growers to control pests sustainably. This will require innovation, including the development of biopesticides, which often have a lower risk profile than conventional chemical pesticides

Manufacturers seeking authorisation of new biopesticide active substances benefit from tailored advice and reduced fees from the Health and Safety Executive through the Biopesticides Scheme.

Local authorities carry out enforcement activity for the vast majority of fly-tipping incidents. In recent years we have bolstered their powers by introducing fixed penalty notices of up to £400 and strengthening their powers to stop, search and seize the vehicles of suspected fly-tippers. The Environment Act 2021 will also help authorities better tackle waste crime through better access to evidence and improved powers of entry.

We have committed to raising fly-tipping penalties in our manifesto. We have published notice of our intention to commission a research project that considers the effectiveness of current enforcement practices which will inform policy development in this area.

Local authorities can also prosecute fly-tippers. In collaboration with the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) we have recently produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court to support sentences that properly reflect the severity of fly-tipping.

The Environment Agency responds to the most serious illegal dumping incidents and has enforcement powers of its own.

Defra has well established ways of working with industry. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement with supermarkets and producers in order to tackle the cost-of-living challenge. Through this engagement, Defra will continue to explore the range of measures food retailers can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. For example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures.

On 14 June, David Buttress was appointed by HM Government as the new Cost of Living Business Tsar. Since his appointment, Mr Buttress has been working in partnership with some of the United Kingdom’s largest supermarkets, including Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys, to reduce costs at the checkout and ensure the access of essential products and services for families across the country.

However, it is not for His Majesty’s Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies. Rising food prices are dependent on a combination of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and manufacturing costs.

In addition to the energy support package announced by Government in September, we have committed £37 billion to tackle the increased cost of living this year. This includes an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, including food, bringing total funding for this support to £1.5 billion.

The Thrive initiative is not funded by Defra but where possible we will consider any learning that it, and other similar programmes, can provide to inform our future plans.

We are due to launch the third phase of the Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) which provides free expert advice to farmers and land managers in England during the early years of the agricultural transition.

It does this by awarding grants to organisations who, in turn, help farmers and land managers to:

- understand the changes that are happening;

- identify how, what and when they may need to adapt their business models;

- access tailored support to adapt.

Defra has awarded grants to 17 organisations to provide delivery of the next phase of the FFRF. The support will be available from October 2022 until March 2025.

The supply chain inflation seen in the dairy sector in recent months, driven significantly by increased global gas prices, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the consequential increase in costs for feed, fuel and fertilisers has created challenges across our dairy and wider food and farming sectors.

It is too early to understand the impact of increased input costs on the longer-term productive capacity of the dairy sector. While farmers have recently seen a substantial increase in the farm gate milk price that they receive, helping them to offset their increased input costs and to maintain production, we are aware that input cost pressures are leading to a period of significant uncertainty and adjustment across the sector.

The sector operates in an open market and the value of dairy commodities, including the farm gate milk price, is established by those in the supply chain - including farmers, processors, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. Defra will continue to work closely with industry to monitor and understand evolving market developments, including dairy production trends.

Global gas prices have a major impact on agricultural commodities. We are very aware of the significant turbulence in international commodity markets following Russian's invasion of Ukraine and are closely monitoring the market situation.

The Government does not underestimate the level of pressure that our dairy farmers are facing. While substantial increases in farmgate milk prices paid by milk purchasers are helping dairy farmers to offset increased input costs and to maintain production, we are aware that input cost pressures are leading to a period of significant uncertainty and adjustment across the sector.

The Government has recently announced steps to assist farmers with the availability of fertilisers for the coming growing season to help address uncertainty amongst growers and keep costs down for farmers. These include delays to changes to the use of urea; revised and improved statutory guidance on the use of slurry; and the publication of further details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The Government has announced that it will pay farmers to help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures to reduce dependence on manufactured fertilisers, and that farmers will be further supported through new slurry storage grants.

On 31 March, Minister Prentis hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Roundtable with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further fertiliser round-table sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks

We are working closely with the industry to identify where mitigations are available to the challenges they face. We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We have also increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real time intelligence.

Defra develops regulations with the involvement of stakeholders from the affected industry.

Before the Farming Rules for Water were introduced in 2018, an impact assessment was produced and a consultation conducted to ensure the effect of the regulations on specific farming sectors, including dairy, were taken into account. The assessment concluded that overall, and for the dairy sector specifically, the benefits of actions required under the rules outweigh the associated costs.

Defra has recently produced statutory guidance for the Environment Agency on how aspects of the Farming Rules for Water should be applied over the coming years. This guidance was developed in line with the original impact assessment. Representatives of the farming industry, including dairy farmer groups, were closely engaged in development of the guidance to ensure that the analysis of impacts on farming sectors was robust.

Full impact assessments will also be published alongside all regulatory policies to implement the Clean Air Strategy when they are introduced.

The UK is currently experiencing the largest outbreak of Avian Influenza with (as of 30 March 2022) 109 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 confirmed in poultry & captive birds (89 in England, 5 in Wales, 9 in Scotland, 6 in Northern Ireland). To date, 2.4 million birds have been culled and disposed, a small proportion of overall poultry production (c.20m birds a week).

Through the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) found dead wild bird surveillance scheme, there have been 841 findings of avian influenza in wild birds, in 242 locations involving 39 bird species in 73 counties. All findings in wild birds have been the HPAI H5N1 strain with the exception of a single finding of HPAI H5N8. This includes carcases collected and submitted to APHA for testing up to the 21 March 2022.

The UK Health Security Agency has said that avian influenza is primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low. The Food Standards Agency has said that, on the basis of the current scientific evidence, avian influenza poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.

In addition to the disease control impacts outlined above, following the introduction of mandatory housing as part of the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone in force across the UK, the 16 week “grace period” during which eggs from birds which were intended to be free-range may be marketed as free-range even though they are housed, expired at 00:01 on 21 March 2022. In most cases the eggs from continuously housed birds from the end of the grace period would meet the criteria to be sold as “barn eggs”. Changes to labelling and point of sales information are required to reflect this change in status.

Compensation payments are devolved. In line with the Animal Health Act 1981, compensation is payable for healthy birds only. There is no compensation available for sick birds or birds that have died. Compensation is not paid for consequential losses, including business interruption caused by control measures, nor for eggs or poultry meat.

In 2019, there was a single case of notifiable avian influenza confirmed in England. As the amount of compensation that individual owners receive is not disclosed, the compensation paid has been combined with payments made in 2020.

In 2020 (including 2019) £103,000 compensation was paid to poultry owners in England.

In 2021, £2.65 million compensation was paid to poultry owners in England.

In 2019, one case of notifiable avian influenza was confirmed in the UK, a case of Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) H5N3 in England.

During the 2020/2021 avian influenza outbreak, between November 2020 and March 2021 there were 26 cases of notifiable avian influenza confirmed including in England one case of LPAI H5N2, one case of LPAI H5N3, one case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and 18 cases of HPAI H5N8; in Scotland one case of HPAI H5N8 and one case of HPAI H5N1; in Wales one case of HPAI H5N8 and in Northern Ireland two cases of HPAI H5N8.

To date in the 2021/2022 avian influenza outbreak, between 26 October 2021 and 30 March 2022, 109 cases of notifiable avian influenza have been confirmed, all HPAI H5N1, including 89 cases in England; 9 cases in Scotland; 5 cases in Wales and 6 cases in Northern Ireland.

Defra’s objective in tackling any outbreak of avian influenza is to eradicate the disease as quickly as possible from the UK poultry and captive-bird population and regain UK World Organisation for Animal Health disease-free status. Defra’s approach is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain (copy attached to this answer) and supported by the United Kingdom contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals (copy attached).

In Great Britain the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) leads Government action on animal disease control and has outbreak response plans in place. These include measures to contract companies to support eradication and cover such matters as the deployment of non-Government vets and experts in culling and disposal of birds. APHA also works closely with other agencies in the Defra group to provide additional capacity.

Agricultural commodity prices are strongly correlated to global gas prices. Farmers have seen an increase in their input costs, particularly fertiliser, feed and diesel. Through the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group, we are working to analyse market impacts and current trends. We have already announced steps to support farmers to move to alternatives to inorganic fertilisers, and the Farming Minister chaired a roundtable with industry last week. Our food import dependency on the Eastern Europe region is very low, so we do not expect any significant direct impact on UK food supply.

Abandoning the phase out of the area based subsidy would not be the right thing to do. Those that would suffer would be the sectors already having a difficult time, including the pig and poultry sectors, which have never been heavily subsidised through the area-based payments. In 2017, £1.775bn of payments were made across 85,000 farms and 10% of claimants received half of this total. 33% of farms received less than £5,000 each.